Cases are known in which the absolute mileage of the odometer/tachometer/mileage counter of a vehicle was manipulated, for example to thereby mislead the buyer of a vehicle about the actual absolute mileage, for example in order to get a higher sales price. The term “absolute mileage” here refers to the overall miles traveled or accumulated mileage of the vehicle.
The odometer fraud laws vary significantly from one jurisdiction to another. For example, manipulatively changing the mileage had itself previously not been punishable in Germany. Accordingly, tradesmen had in recent years become specialized in altering odometer (tachometer) readings to suit for the right price. The introduction of paragraphs 22b of the Road Traffic Act (Misuse of Odometers and Speed Limiters) has now put a stop to this practice. Whoever manipulates tachometers in Germany is now guilty of an offense. This applies to both electronic and mechanical tachometers. Preparing for such tachometer manipulation through the manufacture, sale or provision of corresponding computer programs is also punishable. Even so, it must be assumed that criminal elements will continue to manipulate the absolute mileage of vehicles in this way in the future as well. Therefore, there is a need for detecting the manipulation of the absolute mileage of a vehicle as easily and reliably as possible.
A device is disclosed in DE 20 2007 007 694 U1 for correcting and calibrating the mileage of a vehicle filed in an automatically administered electronic logbook on a server with the help of a GPS (global positioning system) mobile radio telematic system with the displayed mileage in the vehicle. The described device includes the GPS mobile radio telematic system and a display and input device that is coupled with the box of this telematic system by way of a data link, and at least one display panel, card reader unit such as for smart or magnetic cards, along with keys for manual inputs.